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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23628826">Sonate per Violino e Chitarra</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadhatterLee/pseuds/MadhatterLee'>MadhatterLee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Quarantine Blues [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A classical music AU no one asked for, Alternate Universe - Classical Music, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Reylo, Gingerpilot, Guitarist Poe, How Do I Tag, Just a bunch of classical musicians being classical musicians, M/M, Multi, Nobody is Evil, background Finn/Rose, violinist hux</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:27:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,677</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23628826</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadhatterLee/pseuds/MadhatterLee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A modern-setting AU story about a country guitarist, a violinist, some belated adolescent man crush, and Paganini.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Finn/Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Armitage Hux, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Quarantine Blues [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700899</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Introduzione: Larghetto</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first time writing GingerPilot though I've been poking around leaving comments for a bit while now...But entering the fourth week of quarantine I am finally driven mad and I desperately need an escape so I started writing aimlessly. I don't know how long this would be, but I will be as regularly updating as possible.</p><p>A classical musician AU that no one asked for. They are attending a fictional art school, but I did refer to Juilliard here and there when I was doing research for the story.</p><p>A/N: I do not own the characters. </p><p>English is not my mother tongue, I am far from a literature major, I probably had too many TwoSetViolin memes in here and this is not beta-ed so I'm 99% sure the writing is  very bad, but I still hope you could enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing this.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Armitage Hux is, in Poe’s fifteen years of music career, one of the most stereotypical classical violinists he ever met. And this is nothing personal, meaning such statement is merely said to address a universal fact and no more than a scientific observation. Poe feels that the sole type of jokes that come from Hux’s weird sense of humor which would actually <em>humor</em> people are the cliche viola jokes; but in retrospect, musicians who would not make viola jokes or find them funny are violists (or bass guitarists). He believes that Hux would even genuinely try to practice more than 24 hours a day if that were allowed on earth.</p><p> </p><p>He hears, more than enough times, Rey’s boyfriend complaining about his housemate playing Ysaye when asked to play some rock back when they were still in high school and thinking it is a fabulous idea to practice Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major at 2 a.m. in the morning.</p><p> </p><p>“Tchaikovsky’s great, I assure you I definitely love him and his violin concerto but,” Poe recalls Ben’s ramble that day, who had disastrous dark circles under his eyes and tried very hard not to play his piano more percussive than necessary. “That piece is just way too majestic to listen to when you are trying to sleep.”</p><p> </p><p>That <em>partially</em> summarizes Poe’s opinion about this socially awkward violinist. Even though he is literally one step away from Poe’s territory - he is <em>the housemate</em> of Rey’s boyfriend after all - Hux is still pretty much absent from Poe’s daily life. Poe never really crosses paths with the violinist at school, Ben never brings him to their little hangouts except for one bonfire party at which Hux kept quiet the entire time, and the only times when they are breathing the air in the same room are the New Year concerts, which means they are usually at least one orchestra pit apart.</p><p> </p><p>Which, Poe guesses, should be fine, since he, as a guitarist who decided to do country instead of classical, would not even going to be anything more than a sacrilegious scum in Hux’s eyes.</p><p> </p><p>So when Leia happily announced that for this year’s New Year concert she and Professor Snoke agreed it would be nice to collaborate amongst departments, adding a bit of “spicy element” to the exciting event that opens a brilliant new year, Poe was tremendously shocked. He is not a huge fan of Professor Snoke’s; with all due respect, he almost failed Snoke’s music history class when he was a freshman and even three years have swiftly passed since then, the trauma is still freshly intact now. Poe has come across too many rumors about how devilish Professor Snoke is when he is rehearsing, and on top of everything, a collaboration with the string department means, well for Poe at least, rehearsing in the same room <em>with him</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Because Poe, being his typical-Poe-Dameron self, just has to fall for the wrong person, the antique violinist whose soul belongs more to the Baroque Period than 21st century, when he watched Hux performing Sibelius on stage for the first time in their sophomore year. Poe reckons this sickeningly romantic pull to the violinist is simply a physical attraction: very superficial, no feelings involved. He argued helplessly about it when Ben accidentally caught him listening to 18-year-old Hux’s recordings and Ben was not impressed by his argument (“Just because I adore his performer persona doesn’t mean I want to get in his pants!”, at which Ben rolled his eyes so hard he looked like he was having a stroke). When he got to the part where he was talking about how mesmerizing it was seeing the wooden material of Hux’s instrument perfectly matches Hux’s fiery hair Ben finally had enough, so the taller man cut him off with his characteristic ox-like sneer and said “I’m gonna leave you here alone fan-girling over my old-fashioned housemate’s whatever persona to prevent me throwing up in this cute little café from happening. Have a <em>good</em> rest of your day.”before he stormed out of the coffee shop.</p><p> </p><p>Ben knowing basically means Rey knows as well, which then means that it was only a matter of days when everybody in their little circle of close friends was informed of his “physical attraction to Armitage Hux’s performer persona”.</p><p> </p><p>And now, Poe is sitting anxiously in the rehearsal hall with the said close friends (except for Finn, who is also in the string department) waiting for the string department to arrive. Ben is warming up with a bunch of arpeggios, and Rey is sharing Ben’s piano stool while taking care of her reeds. Everyone seems peaceful and minding their own business, but they just have to shift their focus and grin ridiculously at Poe when Professor Snoke arrives with a small group of string students. Hux, being one of Snoke’s favorite, is of course there, a few steps behind the renowned violin master.</p><p> </p><p>Poe whimpers silently when the ginger-hair-matching instrument is revealed from its case as the string department is settling down. The fact that Hux is not so socially incapable as he pictured (he rigidly returns Rey’s welcome hug) is not helping at all, because Poe now finds himself imagining what would be like if he could envelop those willowy limbs in his own arms. He feels that he has to do something about this “physical attraction” before he make a fool of himself in front of his friends, his own department cohort and the string department.</p><p> </p><p>“Poe Dameron!”</p><p> </p><p>He is so soaked in his thoughts that when Leia calls his name he literally jumps in surprise. “Yeah?” He blinks, readjusting his focus to Leia. “ You were saying?”</p><p> </p><p>“I was saying that I agree with Professor Snoke’s proposal to have you and Armitage duet.” Leia sighed. “Armitage has no problem with this arrangement and I wanted to ask your opinion before we choose the piece, but seemingly you have something else to attend to.”</p><p> </p><p>“I, uh, yeah.” Poe is beyond flabbergasted when Leia says Hux is not protesting against duetting with a <em>country guitarist</em> of all people. Don’t get him wrong - Poe does have an extremely solid classical training background, providing him the versatility of techniques he is capable of using, but he is simply more interested in acoustic country music than some old Romantic or Baroque pieces that composed for guitarists a couple of hundred years ago. The point is, though Poe <em>is </em>the star of their department because of his fascinating techniques and charming voice when he sings, there should be others in his department whose focus is easier for Hux’s antique mind to cope with.</p><p> </p><p>And here he is, solemnly rosining his bow with the same level of seriousness when he played Sibelius, saying nothing against being paired up with Poe to perform at the New Year concert. He seems completely serene, his infamously difficult none-performer persona obviously not manifesting, at least not at the moment.</p><p> </p><p>What makes things worse is, Poe is suddenly unsure of himself whether he will still be able to differentiate the so-called two personas and still find the none-performer one difficult to deal with once he directly interacts with Hux through music.</p><p> </p><p>~~~</p><p> </p><p>Poe Dameron is, in Armitage’s twenty years of music training, a compilation of enigmas that Armitage would never be able to unriddle.</p><p> </p><p>Generally speaking, growing up in a family of classically trained violinists, Armitage finds most of the modern and contemporary music lacking the orderly composition structures. Such ill-ordered music makes him cringe, but nothing exists without an exception.</p><p> </p><p>He was dragged to a bonfire party by Ben and Rey once during the summer break between his second and third year in college. He was stuck in their flat practicing the entire summer, because Professor Snoke suddenly went feral on his assignments and decided to have him learn I Palpiti to a contest-qualified level in 4 months. Rey said Ben was too shy to say it out loud that he was sick worried about Armitage’s mental health as he’d been constantly beating himself up while practicing; but Armitage was certain that Ben only wanted him to go to this bonfire so that his ears could have a rest from Armitage’s bow screeching when he ricochets.</p><p> </p><p>Anyways, Armitage found himself surprisingly enjoyed the nonalcoholic beers and decent barbecue food. Later that night, Poe Dameron excitedly announced that he was going to perform an unreleased song the first time to anyone other than his dog, and Armitage was ready to snigger at the messy set of notes Poe called “music” when every piece of his sarcasm was stupefied dumb as Poe started singing.</p><p> </p><p>Poe has a well-balanced rugged appearance, nice stubble, curly dark hair, amiable chocolate eyes and all that. So if he had a warm voice that matches this appearance, which he does, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Yet when he listened to Poe singing, Armitage still felt like he was drown in a ginormous jar of simmering honey, the lazy warmth and cozy hoarseness in Poe’s voice is leading him into some dangerous waters.</p><p> </p><p>It was a feeling too romantic for someone as emotionally constipated as Armitage Hux to handle. Armitage made up his mind to keep it secret until it naturally dies down the moment he realized what his brain, or emotions rather, was reeling for.</p><p> </p><p>However, he happens to live with Benjamin Solo and his goddamned soul, thus he shall never live this belated adolescent man crush down without the Solo intervention.</p><p> </p><p>Ben, inheriting hundred percent of the Solo (and unfortunately, also the Skywalker) family traits, sometimes can be overwhelmingly invested in helping (or diminishing, rather) people and sometimes he can be crushingly grumpy about everything happens around him and growls at every moving object. Usually the latter happens when there are contests and important concerts or when Rey is having a bad time and not answering his texts, which is most of the time. Armitage knows how to deal with Ben’s peevishness; he does live with Ben Solo for almost a decade now and survives successfully after all.</p><p> </p><p>But<em> Ben</em>, of all people, being the relationship advisor is something beyond the CPU power of Armitage’s brain. He made the mistake of divulging his personal playlist by accidentally connecting his phone to their shared bluetooth speaker while playing it in their third year. He didn’t bother to answer Ben’s searing question about how he managed to get a copy of Poe’s unreleased soundtracks, but according to Ben’s smug remark, his blush said it all.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s what could occur when one’s trusted second violin companion also happens to be the best friend of your secret crush!” Ben laughed so harshly he barely managed the sentence out coherently, but sadly it was coherent enough for Armitage to understand its embarrassing content all right.</p><p> </p><p>Ben’s been trying to play Cupid ever since, of course when he’s not petulant due to Rachmaninoff or Rey. Armitage never believes he would actually say this, but he misses Ben’s non-stop bickering already. He’d rather argue about Liszt versus Paganini with Ben than talk him out of setting him and Poe up.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>He still managed to keep it deadpan when Professor Snoke told him there will be a collaboration with the guitar department this year for the New Year concert and he and Professor Organa want to have a duet by their respective top-class students, meaning Armitage would duet with Poe instead of being involved as a chamber violinist.</p><p> </p><p>Imperceptibly choked on his tea, Armitage minutely moved his violin away from himself as he tried to stay as collected as a choked person possible could.</p><p> </p><p>“Sure. I’ll do it.”</p><p> </p><p>If Professor Snoke had known that these calm words came from a person who is inwardly coughing to attempt clearing unwanted liquid out of his windpipe, he would be utterly impressed.</p><p> </p><p>For the time being, the human-shaped trouble named Poe Dameron is only a couple feet away, sitting next to Professor Organa and smiling absentmindedly at Armitage while she is discussing with Professor Snoke about the pieces to play for their showcase. The smile seems to have this kind of magic that gradually makes Armitage lose his concentration as well, and eventually he finds himself suffocating his bow with too much rosin, creating a rosin dust when he hurriedly rescues his over rosined bow.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Bloody hell. </strong>He thought, coughing felinely in the middle of his little rosin dust. <strong>Can he just not be so annoyingly charismatic for one second?</strong></p><p> </p><p>There is still almost a month before New Year, and refamiliarizing a piece from his repertoire during this much time is not a big deal for Armitage. The problem is, for Armitage Hux per se, that whether he, an I-live-with-Ben-Solo-for-seven-years survivor, will succeed in partnering with Poe Dameron for four weeks without any incidents including but not limiting to him killing himself, him killing Poe Dameron, or him initiating some remorseful intercourses with Poe Dameron.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Allegro Maestoso - Tempo Di Marcia</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Two weeks into their rehearsal, both musicians find themselves experiencing some unexpected emotional rollercoasters.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So apparently this is just another chapter of me panic writing under a new week of social distancing without any solid plots, but I still hope you would enjoy my unbeta-ed stress writing as I did writing it!</p><p>I took a bit of inspiration from Your Lie in April when I was writing Armitage's childhood story, and I disclaim that I do not own any characters from Star Wars and Your Lie in April.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Let’s face it: Armie is a lot to deal with indeed, but his tempers can be as cute as they are difficult." Poe announces during their coffee break.</p><p> </p><p>He can almost hear the <em>thump</em> of Ben’s eyeballs falling onto the ground. And Finn’s jaw is experiencing no better. Rose looks like her barista forgot to put sugar in her drink, and Rey is smiling knowingly, just being her cool self.</p><p> </p><p><em>“Armie-“ </em>Ben snarls, “He lets you call him <em>Armie?</em>”</p><p> </p><p>Finn squints at Ben. “I don’t really think that’s the question needs to be addressed the most at the moment.” He turns back at Poe, looking at him like he just saw something coming straight out of <em>Jurassic Park</em> before Ben draws his attention back to him. “No, that <em>is</em> the most wanted answer here.” Ben puts on the solemn face he only wears when he is performing Rachmaninoff No.3, which means he really means business so Finn wisely decides to listen.</p><p> </p><p>“It took me almost two years to be granted to call him Armitage, give it another two for <em>Armie</em>. Our Mr. Poe Wreck-it-All Dameron here practices with him for two weeks <em>and</em> calls him Armie, and <em>voila!</em> He’s still alive and in perfect one piece.” Ben says matter-of-factly, more of stating plain tacit knowledge than talking about how socially isolated and intimidating his housemate can be. Finn shivers at the thought of Hux dismembering Poe’s body, and grits an understanding “I see” while nodding tightly.</p><p> </p><p>Finn has been working with Hux for a couple of years now as his principal second violinist, and he won’t say the entire experience is an intolerable disaster. Hux is unquestionably talented, and as unrealistic as this might sound, he also is incredulously patient when it comes to performing and practicing. When he is in a foul mood during practice, it’s usually because Hux is frustrated at some imperceivable mistakes himself makes. Most of the time he just seems to be too primitively classical to talk with, and Finn is sure that if you ask his favorite pop music his answer would be Prokofiev.</p><p> </p><p>He knows that Hux is very inept at interacting with people outside of a rehearsal room or without a music involved content, so mostly he just never bothers his concertmaster when they are not rehearsing. They have conquered several tours now as the concertmaster and his principal second violinist both in the Coruscant youth orchestra and the school orchestra, and they are still working peacefully together every time. There’s just not much talking about life involved, and Finn thinks it is working fine.</p><p> </p><p>And he knows Poe, on the other hand, is very different. Poe always involves everybody in conversation. Majority of time he manages it gracefully with his caring nature and easygoing character, but sometimes he can be an unnecessary overachiever and <em>challenges himself</em> to communicate with difficult people. Finn guesses that works out fine once, as Ben Solo is another genre of difficult people and he and Poe have maintained their childhood friendship for more than two decades without strangling each other, or at least none of the attempts they might have were serious enough to cause any casualty.</p><p> </p><p>And now he seems to ace another challenge of his, yet according to Ben it is going so well that it is a tad terrifying.</p><p> </p><p>“And I’m not saying you are doing something wrong,” Ben quickly adds when Poe obviously becomes a bit upset, “it’s just, he’s letting you in more easily than he’s ever let anyone else, okay? Not even me, not Phas, and obviously not anyone he’s blood-related to. He’s 23 and already suffered enough emotional earthquakes more than anyone I know, hell, <em>I</em> was even the reason of some of those in my worst years. And the last thing I want to see is to see him getting hurt and me having to be mad at you for that. That’s just gonna be too fucking much for me because I don’t wanna stand middle ground in between my housemate and my childhood friend.”</p><p> </p><p>This sudden protectiveness in Ben’s voice puzzles Finn as well as alarms Poe. This tall pianist, being the housemate, must know something hidden under the flawlessly indifferent veneer of Hux’s that he thinks Poe can toy around with Hux’s feelings. Finn is surprised that he is surprised at Hux having enough feelings to be emotionally hurt.</p><p> </p><p>It’s not like he thinks Hux is a violin-playing supercomputer who would fail the Turing test on Question 1, but <em>come on</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Poe is alarmed for some other reasons that Finn is not as sure as Ben is. But whatever Poe’s concerns are, Ben assures him they are unnecessary.</p><p> </p><p>“Stop thinking whatever you are thinking, Dameron. I can hear your brain spinning.” Ben chuckles, glancing at Rey. “Whatever you think has happened between me and Armie did not happen. Not at all so stop.”</p><p> </p><p>Everything just snapped in place in that moment. Finn suddenly remembers Poe’s “physical attraction” to his concertmaster, and then he remembers about a year ago Hux asked him for Poe’s unreleased soundtracks out of nowhere “for research purposes”.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ah ha.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>So there lies the problem. It’s like the elephant in the room and Finn wonders why he doesn’t realize it sooner.Poe is still visibly upset, and Ben is trying his best (which is not even close to <em>good</em>) to comfort him by telling him assuredly he never even slept in the same bed with Hux since they were teenagers let alone anything <em>more escalated.</em></p><p> </p><p>That is way too much information for Finn’s liking. The things about artists are that sometimes they talk about things too care-freely, and their sensitivity is yet another realm of complication that most people would not ever know how deal with themselves. Poe is no different, he just seems to be more rational than others from the outside, but deep inside he is just as emotionally roguish.</p><p> </p><p>Poe and Hux might be two of the most genius and diligent musicians that Finn knows in their own fields, both at an artistic level that probably he will never achieve in his entire life; however, even when they are definitely two ends of the spectrum in every aspect, for some reason they are both so incapable of establishing a stable romantic relationship that they seem perfect for each other.</p><p> </p><p><b>That’s very tragic.</b> Finn thought to himself. <b>But also very true.</b></p><p> </p><p>He’s more than happy with his own romantic life as he is dating the woman of his love, and all the same he just wishes these two intelligent fools can figure this mess out and save the universe two huge chunks of problems.</p><p> </p><p>~~~</p><p> </p><p>“Shut up Phas, just <em>shut your bloody mouth </em>for a second for fuck’s sake.” Armitage has been living in the US since his teenage years, yet there’re still some vowels and vernaculars that he can’t shake off from his childhood influence. He speaks with an accent that is more transatlantic than British or American, making him sound like an old-school broadcaster from 1930s which surprisingly blends well with his antiqueness.</p><p> </p><p>The bad thing is he always has people curiously asking “where are you from”, the bright side of this is when he curses he sounds elegantly posh. The poshness may be completely unneeded, but it’s nice to be elegant anyways.</p><p> </p><p>It’s been long since Phasma learned how to locate herself around Armitage when he poshly curses. She knows for a fact that when he swears it means everything has not yet gone uncontrollable - if it were really that bad Armitage would be extremely taciturn instead. So it’s a good thing that he still talks trash, meaning she for now does not need to seek shelter to avoid a nuclear blast.</p><p> </p><p>For now the aforementioned nuclear weapon returns to busy himself with sipping his third cup of decaf black tea after Phasma obediently stops chuckling. Armitage clearly doesn’t want to talk about anything that’s Poe Dameron related, but Phasma, being Phasma, just enjoys driving Armitage up the wall a little bit without actually setting his temper on fire.</p><p> </p><p>Phasma vaguely knows about Armitage’s guilty crush on the country guitarist, and she doesn’t really see the whole situation as an Armageddon as Armitage does. Poe Dameron has an amiable outer shell, making him seem like just as opposite to Armitage as humanly possible; but Phasma knows deep down the shorter man is just as aloof as Armitage is. Their aloof talents do not exist in the same form, but isotopes are always accepted and appreciated in the nature.</p><p> </p><p>And obviously what bothers Armitage is not being unable to communicate - it’s actually quite the other way around. Armitage finds it horrifying that Poe is able to interact with him through the music notes; that is something he was not expecting before the first rehearsal.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s my fault to make stereotypical assumptions.” Armitage finally looks up from his teacup, looking absolutely uncertain about everything that is going on in his life at the moment. “I should take full responsibility for that.”</p><p> </p><p>“And why is that?” Phasma mildly coaxes. It’s fascinating to see her best friend showing these tenderness, and she can’t help feeling a bit sad that Armitage thinks it is wrong for him to have this type of feelings and desires for another human being.</p><p> </p><p><b>Damn Brendol Hux and his epic parenting.</b> Phasma thought. <b>Never have I ever seen anyone so emotionally constipated as Armie and I grew up in an orphanage before my foster family.</b></p><p> </p><p>“There is no ‘why’s, Phas. I honestly have no idea what is going on in my mind.” Armitage sounds like he just lost a contest after 2 years of tedious practicing. “I dunno, he just walked in my life like a Strad.”</p><p> </p><p>Phasma smiles. That is the most Armitage-Hux way of saying something indefinitely close to “I am hopelessly in love with this man like a lovesick fool”.</p><p> </p><p>“He just knows how to play, you know? He even knows how to adjust his breath so when we are duetting we are always in sync. He just <em>knows.</em>” Armitage buries his face in his hands, long fingers scratching aimlessly at his forehead. “I should’ve known that when he sang at the bonfire and take all the precautions by turning Professor Snoke down because I apparently thought too highly of myself to be able to <em>control my brain. </em>Oh my lord I sounded like when I was five and having my first contest I was so nervous and father was scolding me for not being able to stop fucking trembling and gosh I’m so useless would I be reprimanded for being unable to put it together just because I’m duetting with Poe Dameron-”</p><p> </p><p>“Alright there, enough of that.” It is simply too painful to witness a mental breakdown like this. Armitage Hux wears this mask of always being the tough callous bitch who does not even care, so that he can chase away human interactions and be certain he is safely quarantined from those “useless emotions”. He was born with a family name to live up to, was born a violinist version of “war machine”, and was born with no right to experience a normal human childhood.</p><p> </p><p>Armitage is painstakingly tortured with the everlasting practices for as long as he could remember by his father, and his ability to translate human behaviors into emotions was stripped bare so that the ability to accurately translate notes into music exactly the way music is composed can take over.</p><p> </p><p>Phasma, for a very long time, was the only witness of this torture before Ben became part of their lives. Yet Ben and his teenage tantrums were not making things anywhere better, if not worse. There were a lot of shouting, calling names and breaking bows involved during those chaotic years, but with some therapies and mature adulting, the trio eventually managed to come down from that summit of bizarreness.</p><p> </p><p>If she could be totally honest with herself for one second, Phasma would admit that both Ben and herself are not the best positive influence that Armitage needed and is needing to overcome his childhood traumas. But she cannot be that nakedly honest, so instead she acknowledges Poe’s positive impact.</p><p> </p><p>Phasma, being the double bassist, never really duetted with either one of them, and she knows that Ben and Armitage is not the best violin-piano duo out there in the world. Their duets were technically flawless, but usually it would take hours of hours of endless discussions about tempos and musical expressions. Poe is the first and only musician who can ever perfectly keep up with Armitage’s mind when he’s playing without even needing a word from either one of them, and that just impresses Phasma profoundly.</p><p> </p><p><b>So maybe, just <em>maybe</em>, if they could both a step forward from this stupid bilateral adolescent man-crush,</b> Phasma thought while watching Armitage sipping frantically at his cold tea trying to calm himself down, <b>life would be tenfold easier for all of us.</b></p><p> </p><p><b>And by all of us I mean,</b> she added in her mind, <b><em>All of us.</em></b></p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Rondoncino: Allegro</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Who would've thought the major ice breaker would be their fluffy fur friends?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have a feeling that this is getting less and less classical music related...</p><p>I am getting moodier than I should recently and I hope the mood is not leaking into my writing. *sigh*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Just like what he tells his friends, rehearsing with Armitage Hux is, to Poe’s surprise, not as apocalyptic as he pictures beforehand. Even though Finn has been telling him assuredly countless times that he does not need to be worrying about being eaten alive by the stubborn violinist if he messed up with something, Poe still had his doubts until they duetted the first time.</p><p> </p><p>Hux is a man full of surprises, and Poe still hasn’t figured out yet whether this is doing him favors or it would be the bane of him eventually. For now, Poe decides to just focus on being satisfied for the fact that Hux is being terrifyingly cooperative during their scheduled and leisure rehearsals and practices<em> all the time. </em>Because all rumors aside, Poe finds Hux very easy to perform with <em>and</em> to hang out with, and he definitely does not think all the country guitarists are sacrilegious and should be banned from the genre of musicians forever. Well, if he does, he’s done an <em>extremely magnificent </em>job hiding it.</p><p> </p><p>He even <em>smiles</em>, god bless this ancient soul, when Poe is getting frustrated by the compositions by the Devil himself. He has this soft way of obscurely smiling with only one side of his lips slightly lifts up, the same side that he would subconsciously chew on in self-deprecation when he makes mistakes. <em>Paganini is always going to be that composer that you would wake up sweating just because you need to perform his works.</em> Hux said when Poe really wanted to tear his sheets apart - which apparently he cannot, no thanks to modern technology, because he doesn’t have the man power to tear an <em>iPad </em>apart - and patiently waited until Poe’s temper died down.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve been there a lot.” He simply explained when Poe asked him why he’s not angry at Poe hindering their rehearsal. “Nobody can perform Paganini without getting frustrated, <em>Dameron, </em>as long as you bounce back from it we’re all good.”</p><p> </p><p>And right there is another thing that Poe knows for sure would someday become the death of him. Hux seems to be very stern about the way of calling and being called by people, and he never calls Poe anything other than “Dameron”, or “Poe Dameron” when he is acquiring Poe’s full attention.</p><p> </p><p>Poe, on the other hand, humors himself with the nickname “Hugs” after that one time when he was drunk tired and messed the pronunciation up, earning a smirk from the taller man. It was their third rehearsal and the first time that Hux actually showed an expression other than his I-am-worshipping-the-piece-by-performing-it-perfectly straight face, so Poe’s neurons just short-circuited at the moment.</p><p> </p><p>Hux tried to correct him several times, but Poe can be very persistent as well. Eventually Hux just gave up his constantly failing corrections and said, “If ‘Hux’ or <em>‘Armitage’ </em>is really that hard for your imbecile tongue to pronounce properly then I’d rather you go with ‘<em>Armie’</em> than whatever stupid nicknames you make.”</p><p> </p><p>That felt like a victory more than it should.</p><p> </p><p>So in conclusion, Poe is being increasingly confident about himself being able to deal with the <em>physical attractions</em> and rehearsals peacefully. He is almost certain that they would nail the New Year concert uneventfully, and this awkward “celebrity crush” would just be gone with the wind as they move on.</p><p> </p><p>Well he <em>was</em> almost certain until now.</p><p> </p><p>BB8 has a vet appointment today, and Poe knows how catastrophic the traffic in Coruscant City can be during the rush hours, thus he brings the dog along to their rehearsal session so that he can take BB8 to the vet straight after their practice without  getting stuck in the middle of a traffic jam more than necessary.</p><p> </p><p>Poe survives Hux’s sarcasm, self-deprecation, strangely high performing standard and an extraterrestrial taste in insanely bitter espresso coffee shots, therefore he thinks that he is as invincible as he can ever be around the man he secretly adores; but he just has to send himself further down the rabbit hole, by tagging BB8 along their rehearsal and introducing him to Hux.</p><p> </p><p>Because he would never - well <em>nobody</em> would - predicted that Armitage Hux would switch into the voice one only uses when they are talking to infants when he's introduced to BB8. Hux is now in a full-on baby voice cooing to BB8, the words sounding like a giant cat throatily purrs while bathing in the sunlight.</p><p> </p><p>The guitarist is frozen on spot, losing all the ability to speak. The whole situation is throwing him all over the place. Poe Dameron is famously known for his love towards animals, especially towards his four-legged companion, and amongst his friends his physical pull towards the ginger violinist is not a secret as well. Put two and two together, one might as well just say Poe is doomed.</p><p> </p><p>When the violinist finally realizes what he’s been doing, he bolts up in a nearly inhuman speed and nearly faints due to the sudden movement. Poe is about to catch him before restraining himself, arms stretching in a funny way while Hux braces himself in a very uncharacteristically brutal pose.</p><p> </p><p>The redheaded musician awkwardly clears his throat, putting on his normal serious face. Poe can’t help but feel a wave of disappointment flooding over his body, but he decides it’s better to ignore it right now.</p><p> </p><p>Hux takes one more affectionate look at the Scottish shepherd, picks up his instrument and starts his routine rosining and tuning. Poe swiftly fetches his guitar as well, trying to live down that moment of awkwardness before he hears Hux’s barely audible mumble:</p><p> </p><p>“I also have a cat at home, you know.”</p><p> </p><p>For the first time in his life, Mr. Poe Perfect-Pitch Dameron cannot believe his ears. He wants to retrieve every piece of comments he has dropped so far, their duet is <em>totally apocalyptic</em> for him, in a completely different approach, but apocalyptic all the same.</p><p> </p><p>~~~</p><p> </p><p>“I also have a cat at home, you know. I can show you pictures after we’re done if you want.”</p><p> </p><p>What the hell was <em>that</em>?</p><p> </p><p>Armitage really wants to smash his head on his violin, but hurting his instrument is astronomically more savage than committing suicide for him, so his train of thoughts just stops right there, putting a brake before he does something he would regret more than he already is at the moment.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Maybe I really am possessed by some demons because there have been too many Paganini works (and some Ernst too, which just make things even worse) involved in my life recently</strong>, Armitage thought desperately, wanting to disappear into the floor and silently die.</p><p> </p><p>He can blame Ms. Rae Sloane for this, Armitage thinks. He tries to focus on the music sheet, yet his mind thinks something else. Ms. Sloane was the first violin instructor he had who did not think of him as a violin-playing machine ever since Armitage touched a violin when he was four. So she naturally became both his violin instructor and life tutor during his late childhood and entire teenage years. Armitage believes that if it weren’t for Ms. Sloane, he would probably end up murdering Ben and being imprisoned in juvenile prison for good.</p><p> </p><p>Anyways, it was Ms. Sloane who introduced fluffy therapy to him, and his secret enthusiasm of fluffy animals awakened and blossomed alongside with his music career. The moment he could get his own pet he adopted Millicent, and in general he just can’t resist any fluffy animals if he gets a chance to interact with them.</p><p> </p><p>So maybe he can also blame BB8 and his cuteness, and most importantly, Poe Dameron for bringing BB8 along. Armitage finds himself stealing glances uncontrollably at the Scottish shepherd, who currently is impressively behaving himself, sitting quietly at the corner of the practice room and entertaining himself with some insects on the other side of the window.</p><p> </p><p>And Poe is not being helpful. Those illegally beautiful chocolate eyes are looking at him with a puppy-eyed look that pretty much matches his fur friend, and <em>God save his soul</em>, does he want to smack that smug face so bad.</p><p> </p><p>Instead he miraculously gathers himself enough to finish tuning his violin and start his warm-up, and he’s sure within several days, or <em>hours</em>, everyone in that little group of friends of Poe’s (which, much to Armitage’s horror, includes Ben) will know how big of a softy he is hiding beneath that stone-cold facade.</p><p> </p><p>That means his social life is possibly as dead as a forty-year-old Mozart by then, but he should still have enough time to strangle Poe before cutting his own wrist and saves himself more embarrassments to come. Armitage calculates carefully while doing his usual slow scales, trying his best to avoid Poe’s examining stare.</p><p> </p><p>This is getting unbearably weird, and Armitage finally feels that enough is enough. He opens his mouth when Poe seems to start speaking as well, and their sentences collide in the air, which then just intensifies the awkwardness to another level.</p><p> </p><p>“Listen Dameron I -”</p><p> </p><p>“I’d love to see some pictures!! Maybe not today but - ”</p><p> </p><p>“You go first.” They halt simultaneously, then speak again in unison. Armitage groans in frustration, and gestures Dameron to let him go ahead and talk.</p><p> </p><p>“I was saying I have to take BB to the vet’s after today’s practice, but if you’re interested maybe we can grab coffee sometime tomorrow? And you can show me the pictures of your cat’s then.” Poe says gingerly, looking like he is carefully weighing every word before he lets them slip off of his tongue.</p><p> </p><p>He sounds too cautious to be simply just asking to grab coffee and see cat pictures, but Armitage doesn’t want to assume <em>anything</em> and put his hopes up too high. Because he knows that he is absolutely not a <em>dating material</em> for someone so gorgeous inside and out like Poe, and merely exchanging pet information while taking the daily caffeine dose shouldn’t really count as a coffee date. But he still hears himself before he could stop, saying,</p><p> </p><p>“Are you asking me something, <em>Poe Dameron?</em>”</p><p> </p><p>Poe smiles and scratches his nape sheepishly, and Armitage feels enormous hoards of butterflies that usually can only be seen in BBC documentaries fluttering in his stomach. <b><em>Oh my dear Heifetz</em></b><em>,</em> Armitage thinks, <b>I think this is the time when all the adolescent dramas that I avoided by practicing restlessly start revenging me.</b></p><p> </p><p>“I am and am not.” Armitage frowns at the answer.<em> What kind of an answer is that?</em> “I mean I am, but it takes two for that <em>something</em> to happen and if you don’t want it to be that something then I’m okay with just grabbing coffee and sharing cat pics.” Poe quickly adds, visibly getting more and more anxious and Armitage can’t help but feel bad that he is the reason why Poe is in such an uncomfortable state of mind.</p><p> </p><p>“So the question is, do <em>you</em> want me to ask you something?” Poe is suddenly less than 6 feet away, closing the distance between them to a socially unsafe one. He can almost count Poe’s lashes when he’s this up close, and Armitage’s breath hitches in his throat while he manages a brief nod.</p><p> </p><p>“Good. Good.” Poe literally beams, his espresso eyes so resplendent they almost blind Armitage. “Let’s practice then, and we can schedule something later when I’m in the vet’s waiting room, yeah?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah.” He says, smiling slightly, more of repeating Poe’s words than initiating his own. Both of them smoothly transition into the practice with relief after that, letting the music to do the rest of the talking.</p><p> </p><p>They may or may not be playing the pieces slightly more flirtatiously than how Paganini composed them that day; and for this one time, Armitage decides that improvising when shouldn’t is not outrageous at all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Adagio cantabile</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I was very anxious about this one because believe it or not I never dated ever in my life meaning basically I had no personal experience to reference, so I just let my intuition take the lead. Apparently when my mind lost control as my work was going berserk on me the characters lose control as well.</p><p>But I still quite enjoyed writing this (quite a way to let the pressure out), and as I always say, I hope you find it as enjoyable as well!</p><p> </p><p>P.S.: I, for some personal reasons, always write stories with people mildly suffering from PTSD, and there's brief description of PTSD from car accident in this chapter, so please be aware if this could be concerning for you.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Poe arrives five minutes earlier than their appointed time, and he is not at all surprised to see that Hux is already there. The violinist’s slim figure is leaning against the window by the coffee shop entrance, eyes focusing on his phone and frowning while reading intensely. There’s something weird about the front of his woolen coat, but Poe cannot see clearly from afar. And when he strides toward his ginger date to take a closer look he sees a tiny head poking out of the collar of Hux’s coat.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Apparently that is Millicent herself, and Poe, for one moment, is utterly grateful for himself deciding to bring BB8 with him to the date.</p><p> </p><p>“Hi Armie.” He greets nervously, drawing the violinist’s attention to himself. Hux looks up from his phone with Millicent moving in sync with him, and Poe finds himself being looked at by two pairs of gorgeous emerald eyes. Millicent has ginger fur that matches with Hux’s hair and his violin, her pure forest green pupils one shade darker than her human’s celadon ones. It takes a lot of effort for Poe to restrain himself from fishing his phone out of his pocket and capturing the moment, and he promises himself secretly that he would be able to do this in the future if he does not ruin this date so quickly. BB8 sits down by his side, tilting his head up and examining the duo curiously.</p><p> </p><p>“Hello.” Hux says quietly, securing the cat with his arm before crouching down to pat BB8’s head. “And hello to you too.” His change of position grants BB8 a chance to have a better view at the feline stranger. He snuggles Millicent gently with his nose, and Poe subconsciously tightens his grip on BB’s leash in case he decides to do something stupid; he most certainly won’t, but Poe doesn’t want to risk anything.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s okay. Millie lived in shelters long enough before she has me, so nothing scares her really.” Hux says affectionately, mostly toward Millicent and BB but he’s looking at Poe when he speaks, so that affection in his words delivers to Poe as well. “And I’m certain this gentleman of yours is not vicious at all.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, you’re right.” Poe chuckles. “He certainly is not.” It takes the two animals a couple of minutes before they finish their greeting. Hux then stands up elegantly, gesturing Poe to let him take the lead.</p><p> </p><p>Poe smiles when he holds the door open for Hux and BB. At least they are having a very promising start.</p><p> </p><p>“I hope you don’t mind I brought her with me.” Hux says when they settle down at a corner table in the shop. “I just thought seeing her personally might be nicer than just skimming through some photos since we chose a pet-friendly place.” He speaks in a very delicate way, lacking his usual salty bites in his words and looking smaller than his physique when he talks. Poe shakes his head quickly, and with Hux’s obvious relief he realizes that Hux is unveiling his insecurities to him, and this <em>trust</em> Hux has for him suddenly makes Poe feel special and fragile too.</p><p> </p><p>Because albeit the extrovert personality that Poe shows, Poe has some emotional sufferings that he hides from people as well. That’s what being the first witness of the massive car crash that took his mother away from him did to him, and Poe has been haunted by the trauma of feeling his mother’s pulses faint away under his fingertips and seeing her ECG flatten in the ambulance to hospital ever since. He still wakes up in the middle of the night with the dream of doctors screaming “adrenaline”, “charging” and “clear”, and during his bad days he can even be triggered just by hearing the sirens of ambulances roaring on the street.</p><p> </p><p>There were some relationship failures after his mother’s accident because when people found out about his painful insomniac nights they would realize that Poe actually is not the “Poe” they wanted, and eventually Poe just closes himself up because he’s too tired of being materialized as a care-free playboy and nothing more than that. Finn has been expressing his worry, but Poe assures him repeatedly he’s in early 20s, so he has all the time in the world and romance can always wait.</p><p> </p><p>His mother was the one who introduced him to classical guitar, and Poe just couldn’t carry on his career anymore as a full-time classical guitarist because anything classical guitarists do could trigger him, forcing him to abandon his routine as a classical guitarist and only performing occasionally as one.</p><p> </p><p>He eventually listened to his therapist’s advice and adopted BB8, registering him as his emotional support animal; however generally he only tells people that he adopted BB because he’s too cute to resist. Which isn’t untrue, but Poe doubted he would tell the whole story behind his sudden change of career route and BB’s adoption to anyone ever. People might have their guesses because of the timeline, but he decided there’s no way he would speak out.</p><p> </p><p>That’s the decision he made before Hux happens, so Poe doesn’t really know it is still a solid statement anymore.</p><p> </p><p>Hux’s insecurity is, as paradoxical as this sounds, making Poe feel safe and sound. He knows it’s still the <em>beginning of their first date </em>and it is too early to say anything definitive about what ground they are standing, but he is certain that what he has for the ginger violinist has already crossed the border of mere physical attraction whether he wants to admit it or not. So he decides to be honest with himself for once, coping with the realization, simply letting himself enjoy the moment with Hux and leaving the worry about those poignant feelings for some other time.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey guys, what can I get for you today?” The voice of the waiter interrupts his train of thoughts. Hux is eyeing him with a subtle concern. He opens his mouth, but instead turns to the waiter to order his coffee and dessert without saying anything to address it.</p><p> </p><p>God, it’s really been too long since he last dated anyone, Poe thinks, and he really is getting rusty at this.</p><p> </p><p>Fortunately, the strange moment passes quickly as their orders are served. Poe earns himself a chuckle from the violinist when he remarks his choice of coffee ( “Seriously buddy, how are you not delusional after having that black coffee with <em>five</em> espresso shots down in your system?”), and Hux fights back by rolling his eyes dramatically at Poe’s Café au lait.</p><p> </p><p>They start trash-talking about each other’s taste like fourth graders after that, and eventually the bickering starts to sound like one of those YouTube videos where British and Americans fight over their national snack traits. And Poe would’ve never expected the grand finale of this food war would be Hux’s choice of his dessert.</p><p> </p><p>He watches the waiter serving the maple-walnut heavy cheesecake to the violinist, his blood glucose level skyrocketing just by looking at it. “This is how I am not delusional after my <em>coffee with five espresso shots</em>.” Hux grins at him triumphantly when Poe looks at his dessert, gaping in a fake horror. “You balance it out.”</p><p> </p><p>“Nah thanks man, I still wanna see the sunlight on my eightieth birthday.” Poe fakes another disgusted sigh when Hux takes a bite and groans happily at the taste.</p><p> </p><p>“Do you now?” Hux swallows the bite and squints at Poe’s empty dish. “Says the man who <em>put sugar in Café au lait</em> while siding it with a brownie.”</p><p> </p><p>Poe laughs softly in defeat, and puts his hands up in surrender.</p><p> </p><p>Armitage Hux, the beautiful ginger violin prodigy who thinks like a time-traveling man from 400 years ago, who speaks with a transatlantic accent, who talks to animals in a baby voice, who refuse to put any sugar in his five-espresso-shot coffee, who has a royal sweet tooth in the same time and who is also very good at <em>pre-school level</em> squabbling.</p><p> </p><p>This man is so going to ruin him <em>in every way</em>.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>~~~</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“I really didn’t mean it when I said you as a classical musician are not classical enough challenge my choice of favorite recordings.”</p><p> </p><p>Armitage stands in front of the entrance of his apartment building and blurts out before he can stop himself, and remorsefully clasps his left hand over his mouth. Poe looks at him in surprise before giggling at his words. “That’s fine Armie, no offense taken anyways. I mean, it’s a miracle that you would even consider me as a classical musician.” Poe has friendly wrinkles at the corners of his eyes when he smiles, but they are not as soothing as they generally are at the moment.</p><p> </p><p>Usually Armitage is not a man of apologies because his arrogance can be bigger than a planet, but with Poe he really doesn’t want the guitarist to think of him as a callous bastard as others do. That moment when their discussion got overly heated he suddenly lost control over his brain,  and Poe was stunned and staring at him with a look that is too painfully familiar for Armitage to carry on their discussion. Deep down behind those warm russet eyes Armitage sees a similarly scarred soul, and he knows all too well how easily a person can be triggered by some simple things. Before he could say something Poe abruptly bounced back to his delightful self with mirthful smile, kind jokes and all that, hiding the scarred soul away perfectly again.</p><p> </p><p>But what’s been seen cannot be unseen. He knows that he’s already gone too far into this investment to step back without leaving a piece of himself behind, and he also knows it is still too early for them to be completely open to each other at this stage; neither of them are ready enough to share their demons. But Armitage <em>really </em>wants them to get there eventually. He’s been alone for an eternity of time, and he’s tired of dealing with the loneliness any more.</p><p> </p><p>He hates himself for being so eager to make things right between himself and Poe, but of all the things in the world it is the curious huff from BB8 when he is struggling with his sentences that finally makes him lose control.</p><p> </p><p>“Look, I know what people says about me, and I know the most humanly emotional moments that I have are probably when I’m playing Schubert. But I really am sorry for what I said.” He raises his hand stubbornly when Poe tries to interrupt.</p><p> </p><p>“No, listen. You have your demons too, and I loathe myself for being careless with that because I should’ve known better than <em>anybody else</em> how easily people can be triggered by small things. I was more anxious today than I was before my Menuhin finals and I freaked out when I realized that I’d rather vibrato Bach than hurting you.”Poe is being sickeningly silent, and Armitage feels like he’s about to collapse. <b>Stop Armitage Hux you are making no sense at all.</b> His mind is desperately trying to stop his mouth, but his mouth is making its own decisions at the moment.</p><p> </p><p>“I wish I could hate you because all of these are the emotions father banned from me since I was a kid but I can’t because,” He swallows heavily, feeling his eyes abnormally heating up. Everything in Armitage’s mind starts playing in slow motion, and he can almost visualize the screaming alarms in the control center of his brain. But he has already gone too far loosening his self-control, so he lets out a restrained sigh and bluntly says,</p><p> </p><p>“Because I genuinely adore you.”</p><p> </p><p>There, <em>he says it. </em>Armitage squeezes his eyes shut in despair, not wanting to witness Poe’s leaving. He opens them when Millicent in his arms makes a tiny protesting sound because he is clutching her too tightly, and when he looks up he gasps at a widely grinning Poe who’s looking at him with watery eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“Sorry I should probably not say this after <em>the first date </em>and you must be thinking I’m an intense freak for saying things like this thank you so much for the date and walking me home I’ll see you tomorrow at rehearsal hope you have a good nigh-” Armitage starts his blathering mental breakdown when Poe starts striding towards him, shushing him with soothing sounds.</p><p> </p><p>“Armie, <em>Armitage</em>, look at me.”</p><p> </p><p>Poe picks up his left hand, peppering gentle kisses to the calluses on his fingertips from his years of practice. Millicent happily jumps off of Armitage’s arms as his hold loosens with Poe’s move, reuniting with her new four-legged friend with rejoice.</p><p> </p><p>“ I do have my favorite recording of all time, and it’s the Sibelius live recording of yours when you were 19.” Poe presses Armitage’s hand to his cheek, his eyes glittering under the fiery sunset clouds. “I didn’t say it because I didn’t wanna sound like a stalker, but I was there at that concert and I have been a fan of that recording and you ever since.”</p><p> </p><p>“You are damn right I have my own demons and I understand this is scary for you because I have them too. I am no less afraid than you are, but let’s take it slow and we’ll see how far we can go, yeah?” Armitage nodded minutely, pulling his hand out of Poe’s grip and replacing it with a chaste peck on his stubbled cheek.</p><p> </p><p>“Good night, Armie.” Poe lets out a shaky breath at that, and envelops Armitage’s slender torso in his arms. “And I really, really adore you too.”</p><p> </p><p>Millicent finishes her goodbye to BB8 in the same time, and she purrs at Armitage in satisfaction when he scoops her up and sees her new four-legged friend’s human off. Armitage pats her fondly in response, entering his apartment building with a tiny tearful smile.</p><p> </p><p>Armitage feels anchored for the first time in his 23 years of life, finally finding the missing piece that he never knew he’s missing until now.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you are reading this, thank you for finish reading this chapter!</p><p>Any feedback is appreciated.</p><p>Poe and Armitage's duet performance are sonatas for violin and guitar by Paganini. <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/0vxzAWGOCsjgpfwn8PvaQ2?si=l3F4QfRNQ6OPbNhzepSWkQ">Listen to the pieces here</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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